Color
Subtraction

When red, green, and blue spotlights are "mixed" together,
they produce white light. But you already know that mixing red,
green, and blue paint together does not produce white -- it
produces a murky grey or muddy brown. What is the difference?
When we mix paint -- or ink or crayons or chalk -- we are
mixing pigments. White paint reflects all colors.

To make the paint red, we mix in
red pigment -- small
particles that reflect red
light and absorb other colors of light.

If we mix red and green pigment in white paint, the red
pigment will absorb the green and blue light while the green
pigment will absorb the red and blue light. The end result of
this will be that no light is reflected at all, as
illustrated below. In actual practice, most pigments will not
be totally absorbing for any color so the result will be our
usual murky grey or muddy brown instead of actually being
black. Pigment reflects what it does not absorb but its active
role is absorbing. When paints are mixed together the result is
the sum of their absorption characteristics. That is why this
is known as color subtraction.

We will also get black -- or dark grey or brown -- if we mix
red (which absorbs green and blue) with blue (which absorbs red
and green) or if we mix green (which absorbs red and blue) with
blue. These are illustrated here:

Cyan is light with a wavelength between green and blue or a
combination of green and blue light. Cyan pigment will absorb
the red and reflect green and blue or cyan colored light.
Magenta is a combination of red and blue, without any green.
And yellow is seen when red and green light are combined. These
colors are illustrated here:

We have already seen what happens when we mix various
combinations of red, green, and blue paint. Now we shall do the
same with cyan, yellow, and magenta. The diagrams below shows
cyan and yellow paint mixed together. The cyan pigment absorbs
red while the yellow pigment absorbs blue. Only the green is
reflected. It is not uncommon for people to refer to cyan as
"blue" so you may already know this in terms of "yellow and
blue make green".

Here we show the mixing of cyan paint and magenta paint. Cyan
absorbs red while magenta absorbs green. Only the blue remains.
Remember, when mixing pigments, it is the colors that are absorbed
or taken out or subtracted that compound or accumulate.

Filters placed in front of each other behave in the same way as
mixing paint. Pigments in filters selectively absorb different
colors and the remaining colors pass through the filters just as
the remaining colors are reflected from paint. What happens if a
yellow filter and a magenta filter are used together? The yellow
pigment in the yellow filter absorbs blue light and allows the red
and green light to pass through, making yellow. The magenta
pigment in the magenta filter absorbs green and allows red and
blue light to pass, making magenta.

We began our discussion of color addition by shining three
colored spotlights in an overlapping pattern. Here we have a
similar overlapping pattern of colored filters. Overlapping
filters of the subtractive primary colors -- cyan, yellow, and
magenta -- allow the additive primary colors -- red, green, and
blue -- to pass through where two of the filters overlap. Where
all three filters overlap, no light passes through and the area is
black.

Color subtraction is the basis for all color
printing. Pigments of cyan, yellow, and magenta are used
to produce a myriad of colors. A fourth printing of
black is used to make colors and shadows darker.